The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus capable of joining a shadow to, masking, or otherwise processing a color image.
Various kinds of image processing have customarily been executed for ornamental purposes, e.g. providing an image with a shadow and masking an image to leave its interior blank in a reproduction. A digital copier, for example, implements such image processing by using a frame memory and a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The CPU fetches data associated with necessary points from the frame memory each time. This kind of implementation is not feasible for real-time processing. With a black-and-white copier, shadow processing which forms a shadow in a position 45 degrees rightward and downward of an image is conventional. There is an increasing demand for a color copier capable of forming a shadow for each of different color portions in a corresponding color.